Hour of Code boosts computer science and game programming at West Vancouver school

12/11/2014 09:20 EST
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Updated
02/10/2015 05:59 EST

CBC

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Students at a West Vancouver school are joining tens of millions of others in a worldwide initiative this week, to promote computer science education through game coding.

The global movement, known as Hour of Code, was launched last year by the non-profit organization code.org and offers one-hour tutorials in the hopes of enticing young people—particularly girls—to the world of computer science.

When Mulgrave School's math and science teacher Gareth Ronald-Jones heard about Hour of Code a year ago, he jumped at the opportunity to teach his students a fun skill that could pave the way for a successful career.

"It’s just an opportunity to get kids involved in coding and really expose them to some of the basic programming out there that is used to program games that they play every day," he told CBC's The Early Edition.

While anyone can host an Hour of Code at any time, participants are particularly encouraged to try it this week to mark Computer Science Education Week.

Students at Mulgrave School already regularly do coding in some of their math and science classes, but this week, Grade 6 students such as Aliza Samji will also help Grade 3 students with their own programs.

"I know I'm really playing a game and that's really fun, but I also know I'm learning different things that I can always apply in the future," she said.